Soy Butter and Unrequited Love
by Tie Kerl
Summary: A One-Shot HollyFoaly in all its fluffy glory! The normally humorous centaur muses about his relationship with Holly Short over lunch on Valentine’s Day, and finds that maybe his dreams aren’t as far away as he thinks.


Tie's AN: I am writing this bit of Holly/ Foaly fluff under my own will, and no crazy vegetarian co-author is threatening to crash my computer if I don't. This is the first story that was pretty much done 50/50 by Kel and I, and it was completely her idea. Happy Valentine's Day, people.

Kel's AN: Bugger … I happened to notice that there are no Holly/ Foaly fics on this site that actually say that they're H/F without beating around the bush twenty times. Anyway, the plot was basically my creation, but it was Tie's idea to use the Charlie Brown quote. Have a great V-Day.

Disclaimer: Both of us own dogs and retainers. Neither of us own any characters in this story, or the quote at the first.

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"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love." - Charlie Brown

It was just another day in Police Plaza. Foaly was in the cafeteria, eating a peanut butter sandwich. Actually, it was soy butter. He was violently allergic to peanuts, and would break out in hives if he ate them.

The entire LEP building was decorated in pink and red, seeing as it was February 14th, and the Mud Man holiday, Valentine's Day. Faeries celebrated it as Cupid's birthday, who had a hand in hiding the People from the prying eyes of Mud Men.

Centuries ago, the sprite/ elf mix had discovered he could inject humans with a chemical which caused them to become obsessed with the opposite sex. He infatuated them by dipping his arrows in the substance, then striking them with the blunt tips. As a result, Mud People began to spend more time with each other than they did looking for faeries. This peculiar trend died with the faerie, and technology dominated the defence system.

The centaur looked across the room. Holly was sitting with a group of captains, most of which were goggling at the secretaries, who sat several tables over. 

Captain Short, however, just sat there making patterns out of her carrot sticks. She hated Valentine's Day, and Foaly knew it. She had came into the Ops Booth that morning, and gave a good rant about how stupid the day was, then left.

Foaly, no matter how hard he tried to deny it, enjoyed how Holly told him almost everything. She knew she could trust him to keep his mouth shut when it counted. She had told him about the brief crush she had had on Captain Vein, and how disgusting she thought he was after it had ended. She told him how mad Root made her, and they joked about ways they could get him kicked out of the LEP.

The centaur, however, had a secret of his own, one that he could never tell. He had known it for a long time, but lately it had been driving him crazy. She was so close, close enough for him to reach out and touch her. But if he ever told her, she would hate him.

Foaly loved Holly Short.

In his mind, it seemed so easy to say. But he couldn't. He shouldn't. She was beautiful, young, and millions of other things that he could never hope to be. She deserved someone much better than him. Someone with emerald-green eyes and wavy rowan, who wore silver armour and would sweep her off her feet onto a pure white unicorn, and they would live happily ever after as they rode into the sunset.

He sighed, and took another bite of his sandwich. It tasted like ash in his mouth. Foaly put it down. He had too much on his mind to enjoy food. 

He had sent Holly an e-card. Nothing mushy, rather the opposite in fact. It was a humorous one that he had taken from a Mud Man website, and it showed a simple flash video of Cupid being lit on fire by a female. He figured Holly would like it, as she wasn't exactly proud of her ancestry. 

The centaur looked over towards her again. Her auburn hair was messy, which was understandable as she had just gotten off of the flares. That must be the reason she's not hungry, he thought. She completely ignored her fellow captains, and she only picked at her food.

Foaly never mentioned this to the elf herself, for fear of getting his ass kicked, but he pitied her. Commander Root seemed to find great delight in finding her every weakness, and using that knowledge to make her life all around miserable. Holly had no idea what made him act so cruelly to her in particular, but Foaly knew.

He had known for a long time what Julius's true intentions with his captain where. By making her face and conquer her weaknesses, he was actually helping make her a better officer, and with every fear she overcame, the less chance there was of the council finding that one reason they needed to send her packing.

Still, thought the half horse, he could find a nicer way to do it, or at least tell her about it. He remembered well when Holly was just a cadet, and she had had an extreme case of claustrophobia. The commander had ordered her to personally inspect every single test pod before she could go to sleep.

He remembered watching her, almost in tears, as she spent over half an hour in every pod, of which there were over twenty, cringing and sweating, her eyes constantly darting towards the door. He had captured the entire thing on tape, intent on using it for blackmail one day. After she had finished, however, he had personally burnt it and chucked the ashes down the sink drain. 

Foaly had never told anyone about that night, and neither had Holly or Root. The only proof that it had ever happened was that the elf had no further problems about being locked into a tiny pod, slingshot into a wave of magma, and entrust her life into the hands of a tinfoil hat-wearing freak.

"Hey, Foaly," came a voice from above his head, snapping him out of his dream world.

He looked up. It was Holly. She leaned over him, and wore a small grin.

"Short. Nice flare riding. You broke the record without Root catching you, and that's saying something," he kept his voice playful and casual like he always did. It made things much less embarrassing if he let something slip.

"Well, I had the best techie in the business at my back, rigging the cameras," She smiled, and tossed a bag on the table. "Cookie?"

His honey-golden eyes narrowed in suspension. "Why? What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing! Can't an elf get a little trust around here? Well, they might be a little brunt around the edges, I made them myself,"

"Funny. I didn't here the fire sirens,"

"Oh, ha ha. Let's all laugh at the Recon jock. I'm not hungry, so take them if you want them."

He looked at the brown disks. "Are those peanut butter?"

She shook her head. "Nope, soy butter. If I even touch peanuts, I break out in hives."

The centaur took them. "Thanks, I guess. If I get food poisoning or something, expect your computer to crash around ten thirty."

She smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Foaly,"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Short,"

He watched her walk away. When she was gone, the centaur fished out one of the cookies, and took a small bite. It wasn't half bad, but his mind was everywhere but on what he was eating. The technician couldn't help but sigh.

Nothing took the taste out of soy butter quite like unrequited love. 


End file.
